Florissant has a sort of fancy-Dan ring to it, but I do declare that it is no refined southern dandy to be swayed by frothy eloquence. So, trade in those fancy pants for some blue jeans and get ready to live the simple life of old-town charm in Florissant, Missouri.
Public transportation is available, but it's a pain in the butt around here
Florissant has a sort of fancy-Dan ring to it, but I do declare that it is no refined southern dandy to be swayed by frothy eloquence. So, trade in those fancy pants for some blue jeans and get ready to live the simple life of old-town charm in Florissant, Missouri.
Public transportation is available, but it's a pain in the butt around here. Metro Transit provides service throughout the state, with a few routes circling around the city of Florissant. If you can't find a car or a carpool group, then it’s best to find a rental around Lindbergh Boulevard, the major southwest-northeast route through town, or around New Halls Ferry Rd., the major north-south route.
Understanding the climate is important when trying to find an apartment in Florissant, especially when it comes utility costs, transportation, and bugs. Our biggest advice? Get ready for some hefty electric bills. With freezing winters and hot, humid summers, keeping your home comfortable can be pretty costly. It would be wise to look for newer apartments with better insulation lest set the air conditioning on full-blast all day. As far as driving goes, it can get pretty tricky in the winter particularly for those who don't live on the major thoroughfare roads, where snow removal sometimes takes days. Then, there are the bugs. Mosquitoes and houseflies are a common nuisance, and a rental with a screened-in porch is a great way to deal with these swarms. Also, remember to bring bug spray to the summer music series at St. Ferdinand Park.
A good number of rentals around here have owners that neglect their properties while living in another state, as well as local management that comes face to face with the awful living conditions each day and continues to let the rental properties become virtually uninhabitable. With certain violations such as gas leaks, black mold, sewage back up, faulty wiring, and lack of water and heat, some of these apartments can very dangerous to live in. So, if you are looking for cheap rental or have been lured in by that $99 Move-in Special, take extra care to make sure that the place is up to code, or at least has a functioning maintenance crew before signing that dotted line.
Central: As the city's centerpiece, the downtown neighborhood of Old Town Florissant is charmingly vintage and walkable. You can have fun on a dollar a day by enjoying the free activities and events in nearby parks, including indulgences in local history at the Town Court Park, greenway hiking and biking from the city center to the river at Sunset Park, and live music in the summers at St. Ferdinand Park. Or, you can spend a whole paycheck within a few blocks, with some amazing crab cakes and piano-jammin' at Hendel's Market Cafe, some irresistible sweets the Old Town Doughnut Shop, Fritz's Frozen Custard, or Helfer's Pastries & Deli Cafe, and some good brewskies at the handful of pubs and sports bars around the area.
Surrounding the old brick shopping strips are suburban-style roads with nice, wide bike lanes, tree-lined streets, brick houses, and old red and white country houses renovated into duplexes, fourplexes, and town homes. Just watch out for the apartments around the Flower Valley Shopping Center, where slumlords and criminals are as common and pesky as flies in beer can. $-$$$
East: Just east of the high-crime area around the Flower Valley Shopping Center is a safe, close-knit community of fairly well off families living on large plots of woodsy real estate. It’s an amazing area to live, with small, winding roads surrounded by forests of oak, maple, and hickory. There are very few apartments to rent here, and most of the houses are owner-occupied. The Car of Commerce Chute, a historical piece of river, wraps around the northern boundary of the neighborhood and is a great place to hook some catfish for all you fish fanatics. The enormous Sioux Passage County Park is located here as well, with some beautiful forested hiking trails and river access. And, jazz fans can catch some good tunes at the Halls Ferry Inn Jazz Cafe, an old tavern run by a man of the cloth with a great collection of recipes and fine taste in music. Sounds like a great place to live, right? Of course! Just make sure you’ve got the cash to do so. $$$$$
West: The west side of town is a very desirable area, with some nice parks, a riverside conservation area, a shopping center, and easy access to downtown. It’s a good neighborhood for military families, with the Missouri Air National Guard nearby. Rentals vary from newer apartment complexes to older, historic rowhomes and attached homes. $$$
Now, put on your game face, it's time to weed out the slumlords and find yourself a nice home to rent in Florissant, Missouri.
-By Katy Comal
